The Senate is expected to vote again on extending the federal unemployment benefit program when it returns to Washington D.C. next week. The standalone bill would re-establish eligibility for federal unemployment benefits through the end of November for those
who have been out of work longer than 26 weeks.

The Senate won't have much time to get it done. It leaves on a month-long recess Aug. 1.

The debate between Senate Republicans and Democrats is not whether the extension is needed. The impasse is over whether the bill to extend unemployment benefits should be offset in the federal budget. Democrats say no — it's emergency spending. Republicans say yes — the country can't afford piling on more debt to the federal deficit.

If recent polling is any indication, the majority of Americans are not as worried about the deficit as Senate Republicans, reports Salon.

According to a June 11-13 USA Today/Gallup Poll, 60 percent of Americans favor "additional government spending to create jobs and stimulate the economy." Only 38 percent of the respondents opposed the proposal, while 2 percent had no opinion.

In another USA Today/Gallup Poll, taken March 26-28, the list of issues considered “extremely important” by voters was headed by the economy (57 percent), followed by healthcare (49 percent) and unemployment (46 percent). The federal budget deficit came in fourth, at 45 percent.

While politicians have swapped partisan barbs about what's worse, adding to the deficit or denying help to those who can't find jobs, more than 1.7 million people have lost their unemployment benefits. That number will grow to 3 million by the end of July.

Columnist Eugene Robinson, advocating for an extension of federal unemployment benefits in the Washington Post, framed the issue very eloquently. And it's not about numbers.

The employment numbers aren't just a monthly set of partisan talking points. They represent actual lives. They represent mortgages that might not be paid and college educations that have to be deferred; they tally mental health crises and broken marriages.

That's the human toll of the debate the Senate will resume next week. The unemployed who are looking to Washington for help should hope that all senators — Republican and Democrat — keep that in mind as they work to reach a compromise to re-establish eligibility for federal unemployment benefits.